Steve Jobs “seemed receptive” to 7-inch iPad in 2011

Apple exec Eddy Cue argued in January 2011 that Apple should make a 7-inch iPad.

A 7-inch iPad may in the cards after all, at least if Apple decided to move forward with the advice from its senior VP of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue. Apple's senior VP of iOS software, Scott Forstall, testified on Friday at the patent hearing between Samsung and Apple, revealing an e-mail that Cue had sent to then-COO Tim Cook and other executives urging them to launch a 7-inch tablet.

"I believe there will be a 7-inch market and we should do one. I tend to agree with many of the comments below," Cue wrote in January of 2011. According to All Things D, Cue was referring to an attached article wherein a reporter wrote about his experience switching from a 9.7-inch iPad to a 7-inch tablet.

And according to CNBC's Jon Fortt, then-CEO Steve Jobs "seemed receptive" to the idea.

The revelation comes just as rumors about the so-called "iPad mini" are heating up. The latest rumors suggest that such a device might even come to market before the end of 2012 in order to take advantage of the lucrative holiday season, though others believe that Apple might hold onto the smaller iPad for its usual iPad update timeframe in the spring of 2013.